Avatar: {Hybrid and Alien]

{55}

The brightness of the overhead room lights stung Asim's eyes as he slowly opened them.

When he fully adapted to them, he realized he was back at the outpost in the medical room. When he tried to move his body, all that was felt was numbness all over. The only thing that Asim felt that he could move was his face and head, turning it over to see who else was in the room. Asim was met with the familiar presence of Kentaro shining a light on his eyes, along with the others of the group wearing worried faced that soon turned into relief. "Ohaiyo, Asim-san. Did you finally get your long rest? You kind of looked half dead" Kentaro asked with a concerned look, though Asim felt that it was the calm before the storm. "...Yeah...I guess..." Asim spoke, fighting off the numbness in his mouth and nodding slightly. Kentaro sighed like the rest...before swatting Asim in the shoulder. This made the numbness immediately disappear and the warmth of feeling returned to Asim, making him grunt. "Agh! What the hell??" Asim complained, covering himself with his arms. "'What the hell?' Ittai nani o shite ita nodesu ka!? Do you realize how worried we were when we didn't find you in the morning? And worse when the na'vi hunter came to us with an urgent message? What were you thinking?" Kentaro said firmly with resentment in his voice, frowning. "Kentaro please, calm down! You know he left for a reason. The clan leader said to me what happened. True, it was reckless and we weren't given a notice. Not to mention how some of them were angry about trespassing on their territory. Still, be grateful that it wasn't something that could have taken an eye off of our leader." Shaka said, stepping in and placing an arm between Kentaro and Asim to intervene. Kentaro huffed and glared at Shaka, before thankfully stepping back.

Asim closed his eyes and later rested his head back on the medical bed. "Sorry you guys. I really am. I...I couldn't just sit idly by while...Layontsin came and...offered me help." Asim said, sighing. Shaka seemed to understand as he placed a hand on Asim's chest. "We get it. The situation we are in is difficult to adapt..." Shaka said, making Asim look at him. "But I agree with Kentaro here. What were you doing out there with the thanator na'vi?" Shaka asked him, the others moving closer to listen. Asim looked at each of them, their faces and expressions, and then shut his eyes as his fists clenched. "Layontsin...she told me that she knew a place where to find answers...the tree of voices..." Asim said. Shaka's eyes widened when he heard that he was taken by the thanator anthro to such an important place. "THE tree of voices? And she just took you there? Did the clan leaders agree to this?" Shaka asked, some emotions like surprise and worry mixing in his face. "Not sure. But I am guessing she did. But...the important thing is...what I found there." Asim said, also telling everyone how he was able to hear voices by just touching the tree branches. True, it was still very unsettling despite the wonder that he felt when he first experienced it, but now came the important part. "And? What did you find?" Emeralda asked him. Asim looked at each of them, preparing to give what he had seen and experienced even if it wasn't good. He now knew what the truth was, and that he had to share it with the others.

"We were lied to...about everything..." Asim said finally.

Everyone looked at each other, wondering what Asim meant. "About what? The na'vi? Or something else?" Mikhail asked. "No...about our origins. We...we weren't created, neither from screatch nor cloned. We...all of us were stolen. Stolen from...our true families. Stripped from our cherished memories before we could continue with our own childhoods...thanks to those that taught us we were super soldiers created for a great purpose. That's it. We were lied to by them. All what we were taught was a damn lie!" Asim explained as anger and sadness took over, his chest aching because of what he had seen and what he had experienced now that the amnesia inflicted in him has disappeared completely. His hands gripped the sides of the medical bed tightly, to the point that he could feel the metal underneath bend. Kentaro, Mikhail, Emeralda, and Shaka were all shocked to hear the discovery. "You sure that it wasn't a hallucination? The files from Dr. Agustine mentioned something about when na'vi connected to those types of trees. Perhaps it can give us an explanation on what happened." Kentaro said as he sat down in a chair near him. Asim stopped and slowly looked up, giving his friend a fierce glare that was intimidating enough for him to push back. "Since when did you become an expert in saying whether something is an illusion or a real memory? Tell me, Kentaro-hakase!" Asim spat angrily at him, making Kentaro flinch in his seat.

The others also backed up when they heard the anger dripping from Asim's voice, even starting to make Lily nervous. "Asim...please calm down. There is no need to get altered even when these types of things come back." Shaka said, moving to place a hand on Asim. However, Asim glared at him and swatted his hand away from him, making Shaka flinch. "Calm down? For what? I just discovered that we were just lied to now that I remember everything! First I am told that it was probably an illusion, and now to calm down so that it can make me feel better? Bullcrap!! I remember everything now! All of it!! And now I.......I....I—!" Asim lashed out, anger starting to boil through his veins before he stopped when he felt his heart ache again. Something warm was starting to slide down his eye as his voice broke, making him stop abruptly and reach with one hand. Asim touched it and felt that it was warm and liquid, smelling like salt. When he looked at it on his hand, he saw that those were tears that he was shedding as a sign of true sadness. "I...don't know what to do now. My family...all of our families...are gone. We should have stayed there. So that we could......" he said before his words failed him and he couldn't say anything more, covering his face with his hands as he couldn't bear any more to hold back his tears.

No one dared to say a word to him, as they must have thought that doing so will only make things worse. Some moments passed when Asim felt a small hand tug the sleeve of his shirt, and then he looked up from his covered face. Lily looked up at him with concern and compassion, not worried about what would happen. "I don't want to go away. I want to stay with you forever, no matter where we all go." She said, hugging Asim's arm tightly. This gesture moved Asim greatly, and he slowly hugged her back while shedding the remainder of his tears. "It will do no good to break down over the past that we could not change. What matters now is what we do. And besides, you yourself told us about this new life. We will live it through. Together." Mikhail spoke afterwards, breaking the short silence and walking over to rub his head. This comforted him as he saw that even when he was down they supported him. Shaka did as well, while Kentaro and Emeralda reluctantly went to also give support. "Thanks. Everyone" Asim said as he wiped the tear stains on his face. "Now it's our turn to watch over you, big baby." Emeralda remarked with a sly grin. Everyone turned to look at her with confused glares. "Oh, alright. I take it back" she said with an exasperated huff and rolling eyes as she gave up partially. After a moment of confirming that he was alright, Asim sat up straight and decided to share about what he remembered about his old life.

While he did so, he started to remember the last part that was about his nightmare. And started to connect dots in his mind.